Working with R – RStudio

RStudio

Easier working with R

  • Syntax highlighting, code completion, and smart indentation
  • Easily manage multiple working directories and projects

More information

  • Workspace browser and data viewer
  • Plot history, zooming, and flexible image and file export
  • Integrated R help and documentation
  • Searchable command history

RStudio

RStudio

Getting the editor

Working with R in R Studio - 2 major panes:

  1. The Source/Editor: “Analysis” Script + Interactive Exploration
    • Static copy of what you did (reproducibility)
    • Top by default
  2. The R Console: “interprets” whatever you type
    • Calculator
    • Try things out interactively, then add to your editor
    • Bottom by default

Source / Editor

  • Where files open to
  • Have R code and comments in them
  • Can highlight and press (CMD+Enter (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows)) to run the code

In a .R file (we call a script), code is saved on your disk

R Console

  • Where code is executed (where things happen)
  • You can type here for things interactively
  • Code is not saved on your disk

RStudio

RStudio layout

RStudio layout

RStudio Layout

If RStudio doesn’t look the way you want (or like our RStudio), then do:

RStudio –> Preferences –> Pane Layout

Workspace/Environment

Workspace/Environment

  • Tells you what objects are in R
  • What exists in memory/what is loaded?/what did I read in?

History

  • Shows previous commands. Good to look at for debugging, but don’t rely on it.
    Instead use RMarkdown!
  • Also type the “up” key in the Console to scroll through previous commands

Other Panes

  • Files - shows the files on your computer of the directory you are working in
  • Viewer - can view data or R objects
  • Help - shows help of R commands
  • Plots - pictures and figures
  • Packages - list of R packages that are loaded in memory

Let’s take a look at R Studio ourselves!

Lab: Starting with R and RMarkdown

RStudio

Let’s start by making an RStudio “Project”.

  1. Helps you organize your work.
  2. Helps with working directories (discussed later).
  3. Allows you to easily know which project you’re on.

Go to File → New Project → New Directory → New Project

Call your Project “Intro_to_R”

R Markdown file

R Markdown files (.Rmd) help generate reports that include your code and output. Think of them as fancier scripts.

  1. Helps you describe your code
  2. Allows you to check the output
  3. Can create many different file types

Create an R Markdown file

Go to File → New File → R Markdown

Call your file “first_markdown”

Code chunks

Within R Markdown files are code “chunks”

This is where you can type R code and run it!

Run previous chunks button

You can run all chunks above a specific chunk using this button:

Chunk settings

Chunk settings

You can specify if a chunk will be seen in the report or not.

Knit file to html

This will create a report from the R Markdown document!

knit

Useful R Studio Shortcuts

Viewing data

The View command allows you to view data in a spreadsheet format.

View(mtcars)
head(mtcars)
                   mpg cyl disp  hp drat    wt  qsec vs am gear carb
Mazda RX4         21.0   6  160 110 3.90 2.620 16.46  0  1    4    4
Mazda RX4 Wag     21.0   6  160 110 3.90 2.875 17.02  0  1    4    4
Datsun 710        22.8   4  108  93 3.85 2.320 18.61  1  1    4    1
Hornet 4 Drive    21.4   6  258 110 3.08 3.215 19.44  1  0    3    1
Hornet Sportabout 18.7   8  360 175 3.15 3.440 17.02  0  0    3    2
Valiant           18.1   6  225 105 2.76 3.460 20.22  1  0    3    1
tail(mtcars)
                mpg cyl  disp  hp drat    wt qsec vs am gear carb
Porsche 914-2  26.0   4 120.3  91 4.43 2.140 16.7  0  1    5    2
Lotus Europa   30.4   4  95.1 113 3.77 1.513 16.9  1  1    5    2
Ford Pantera L 15.8   8 351.0 264 4.22 3.170 14.5  0  1    5    4
Ferrari Dino   19.7   6 145.0 175 3.62 2.770 15.5  0  1    5    6
Maserati Bora  15.0   8 301.0 335 3.54 3.570 14.6  0  1    5    8
Volvo 142E     21.4   4 121.0 109 4.11 2.780 18.6  1  1    4    2

Summary

  • RStudio makes working in R easier
  • the Editor is for static code like scripts or R Markdown documents
  • The console is for testing code
  • R markdown documents are really helpful for lots of reasons!

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